Only 1 per cent of Afghan army battalions trained by Nato forces are capable
of operating independently, a senior US commander in Afghanistan said today.

Lieutenant-General Curtis Scaparrotti, deputy commander of US forces in
Afghanistan and the head of the Nato-led joint command, said that even this
small number of Afghan battalions still needed coalition “advisers” to help
them.

He said: “Out of the total number of trained kandaks (Afghan battalions)
probably about 1 per cent can operate independently with advisers. So it’s a
very low number.”

However, he said that he remained confident that the Afghan security forces
would